Being a Christian means being like Jesus. 

The Bible says that we fellowship with Jesus through our suffering. To be like Him, we have to suffer because Jesus suffered, BUT it’s through our suffering that we become more like Jesus. It’s through suffering that Jesus became obedient and dependent on God, and we go through that same process as his followers. 

The Bible teaches us that our suffering has a purpose. God is using it to develop us. for example…

Joe experienced a lot of suffering in his life, but in the very end his mind was changed( repented) and he had a revelation of who God was like he never had before . 

In Philippians, Paul says “I count everything else as loss to know Jesus.”Paul and Job understood in the end, that all the loss and suffering in this life is worth it to know Jesus on a deeper level and be more like Him. 

God gave the enemy permission to mess with Job, and Jesus also said to Peter “Satan, has desired to have you have you, but I have prayed for you that your faith would not fail.” 

The tests and trials that God lets happen is not meant to destroy us, even though the enemy wants it to. But rather it is meant to strengthen us and develop us and make us more like Jesus, and be able to fellowship with God through our suffering, so that at the end of it all, we will be able to see him more clearly and be more like Him. 

Paul says if I’m going through suffering it’s for your comfort. Jesus said the same thing to Peter that after you suffer and are converted, strengthen the brethren. In other words, after you pass the testing of your faith through this suffering, being an encouragement to others. 

God needs us to make it through our current suffering, not just for us, but because once we have made it through, we are able to help people and comfort those that are going through suffering, and encourage them to not give up . 

God not only used Job, Peter and Paul’s sufferings to bring them closer to Him, but we read that they all were also able to transform the lives of the people around them and help them also grow closer to God . 

If you are going through suffering in this season in your life, don’t give up. Jesus has prayed that your faith would not fail, and when you make it through, it will be a part of your testimony. It will draw you closer to Jesus and it will help others as they go through their suffering. 

God is going to specifically put people in your life who need the strength that you have obtained from all that you have made it through, it order to be comfort to them unto salvation. Thank you Jesus! (main scriptures: — Job 42, — 2 Corinthians 1:5-6, — Luke 22:31-32, — Romans 5:3-5)

Our soul and spirit within us are constantly longing for God. 

But our flesh is constantly longing for its desires/lusts.

Our soul and spirit are hungry for the living water, and bread of life  (Prayer and the Word of God) but our flesh is hungry for natural contrary desires (things that satisfy the 5 senses) (lust of flesh, lust of eyes, pride of life etc).

This is why fasting is so powerful. We are depriving the flesh of what it wants and we are making our flesh feel the hunger of the way that our spirit and soul feel all the time, when they are deprived of God.  

There’s an every day battle  

going on in us of the Flesh vs Spirit and it takes place in the mind. 

God speaks to our spirit, to affect our mind, to affect our flesh. (Making us complete in Body, Soul, Spirit). 

The enemy speaks to our flesh, to affect our mind, to affect our spirit. 

The battleground that goes on and the place that God tells us to “war” is in our mind. 

Because the mind produces the actions, and how we think and how we act makes up who we are. 

 Every day we have to make a decision to feed our inner man and spirit man, and not our flesh. (Romans 7 and 8) (Galatians  5 and 6) . 

There’s an interesting book called “two wolves” that details, something similar to this process that’s happening in our lives every day. 

The book details that there are two wolves inside of us, and whichever one you feed is going to grow. 

Will we sow to the flesh and reap death and decay or will we sow to the spirit and reap eternal life? 

Our soul is the “inner man” that will pay an eternal consequence (good or bad) for which wolf we feed. 

BUT THANKS BE TO GO WHO GIVES US THE VICTORY AND DOMINION OVER SIN! (main scriptures: Isaiah 26:9, Romans 7:22-25, Galatians 5:16-17)

Lets, take a look at how Jesus responded to his accusers…

”He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.“

Isaiah 53:7 ESV

Why is it so significant that when Jesus was accused of something, he opened not his mouth?

Because the number one natural human response is self preservation. 

This can manifest in different ways whether it be when we are in danger and our sympathetic nervous system of fight or flight kicks in,  because there is a sense of danger to your body, so it’s trying to do everything it can to preserve itself. 

It is no different than when somebody accuses you of something you haven’t done. The natural response of a human being is to adamantly deny something that you didn’t do in order to preserve yourself. 

It is one of the most godly things when somebody can accuse you of something that you didn’t do but yet you open not your mouth in defense. 

It’s the ultimate sign of denial of self because it goes completely against human nature.

When  somebody can accuse you of something that you absolutely didn’t do, yet you remain silent, is one of the greatest tests to face as a Christian.

One time, I too was faced with a specific test of accusation. However, 3 weeks prior to the accusation the Lord prompted this question in my Spirit, “What did I do when I was accused? (falsely). I responded to the Spirit, “You opened not your mouth”. This question in my spirit was soon going to be a test and the LORD put this scripture in my heart weeks prior to prepare me for that test.

3 weeks later I was at a friends house for dinner and someone (highly esteemed Man of God) came to me and began to open up to me about what he felt about me. The whole time I sat their listening the the absurd comments, knowing there we’re false, and burning with myself to defend these false comments, but the Spirit restrained me and all I could think in that moment was “I opened not my mouth” as the LORD spoke to my heart.

This was no an easy test, however as you begin to see in scripture with examples of David, Stephen, and Jesus, the closer to you to Jesus, the more the persecution and the more close people around you will hurt you (whether intentionally or not). This is not anything more than a test.

The test: Can we keep a right heart/spirit when someone is coming at us personally for something we did that we really didn’t do.

This need to self defend against accusations (whether right or wrong) is pride, and a test from God to see how dead to self we are.

The perfect, spotless, blameless Jesus Himself was torn down and his reputation speared by people who spoke falsely of Him. Yet, in all the wrong done and said against Him, “He opened not His mouth”, and was even able to say “Father forgive them”. (I still remark about how amazing that is…)

This is one of the most underrated, scriptures and godly examples that I believe every believer needs to strive for… 

BECAUSE IF Jesus gave into his natural affection to deny the accusation and persevere self….

He wouldn’t have fulfilled the scripture of prophecy in Isaiah 53, and we would not be here today as blood bought children of God. 

PRAISE JESUS.

Covenant means an alliance, pledge, constitution or agreement. And with every true covenant throughout all of history, there is signs or a sign of that covenant.

For example .. 

In Genesis 9 there was a “token Of covenant” (signal, sign, token) that was something externally manifested to show God’s vow in His relationship and agreement with man.

In Genesis 17 when God establishes covenant with Abraham, the token was the circumcision of flesh( foreskin). 

However in the New Testament, the covenant changes and we can become part of the covenant through the blood of Jesus, not through the blood that comes through circumcision.

The sign/token of the new covenant is the “circumcision made without hands… being buried with Him in baptism.”

Romans 4 explains that Abraham received the sign (token) of circumcision as PROOF of the righteousness of the faith 

Covenant demands an external sign and faith demands works. (Faith without works is dead, we show our faith by our work- James 2) 

In American culture, the sign of covenant of marriage is a wedding ceremony and a wedding ring that signifies covenant and is expressed through something external . The Bible teaches that when two people are married the two become one through their covenant agreement.

3 things impact covenant (specifically marriage) 

• Sacrificial giving 
  • Blood or sacrificial giving
  • Intimacy in marriage (subjecting your body to the other) (1 Corinthians 4:7) 
  • 2 becoming 1 flesh (Mark 10:8) 
• Speech  
  • (Someone leading the ceremony, and invoking vows over the couple) 
• Witnesses 
  • Must be 2/3 witnesses present to marry 

This is the same process that we go through spiritually…

• Sacrificial giving (Spiritually):
• The sacrificial giving is dying out to yourself, and giving yourself up for the sake of the covenant (2 become 1) (Us and Jesus) (“Your body is not your own, you’ve been bought with a price”) 

Speech (Spiritually):

• There is the person calling upon your name on baptism(whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord, will be saved) the Bible says “ arise, be baptized, wash away thy sins, calling upon the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16)

 Witnesses (Spiritually): 

• In Romans 8:16 there’s two witnesses God Spirit is a witness with our spirit . And the external sign of that witness is speaking in tongues, crying out “Abba Father”. 

God always uses the natural to teach us more about the Spirit….

For us now, in the New Testament, our wedding celebration is baptism. Where we die to our old self and we become one with Jesus. (we take on His name, the same way in American culture you take on the name of your spouse.) 

The external sign, the God chose for the new testament, is the promise of the Holy Spirit, which he sheds abroad into our hearts through the Holy Ghost.

All weddings need a witness to make it official, and the Bible says that when we receive God spirit, “our spirit bears witness with his spirit, and we cry out “Abba Father”. (Abba father is two languages, the scripture is teaching us that when God spirit in our spirit meet together, the external sign is speaking in multiple languages) (Aramaic and Greek).

This is an example of what happens when somebody receives the Holy Ghost and begins to cry out in multiple languages/speaking in tongues as an external sign that they are now one with Christ. 

When we get to heaven, God is going to see if we have met the earthly requirements of His covenant with man on Earth. 1 John 5 says that “there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.“ 

To show the covenant God is looking to see if we have the Blood, water and Spirit active in our lives. (Repentance, Baptism, Filled with Holy Spirit). 

Some external evidence of these being a life turned toward God, speaking in tongues as the initial external sign of receiving the Holy Ghost, and the Fruit of the Spirit working in your life). 

Thank you Jesus for the new covenant relationship and the sign that accompanies it as proof that we are your children, and that we will inherit eternal life ! Amen. 

(Main Scriptures: 1 John 5:7-8, Acts 2:38, Matthew 7:16, Acts 8:17, Gal 5:22-26, 1 Corinthians 6:17, Colossians 2:11-12, Genesis 9:11-13, Genesis 17:11, Romans 6:4-5, Romans 8:15, 2 Corinthians 1:21-22, Acts 2:33, John 7:38, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20) 

8/21/24 prayer and study 

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭3‬:‭5‬-‭7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“Common sense” is the opposite of trusting God. Common sense is what makes sense to our own human understanding. But if we rely on common sense, it takes God out of the picture because it assumes that we already know the answer. 

Instead, we are to acknowledge God in everything, relying on His counsel and trust in Him so that He will direct our paths.  If we truly fear (respect and love) Him, we will acknowledge Him in everything and rely on His knowledge understanding, and wisdom, not our own common sense.

When man was created in the image and likeness of God, it meant that everything they produced was good because everything God produced was good. But, when man fell, they let the wrong seed (word) into their garden(heart) and produced death.

In Genesis 4, we see that man now produces both good and evil (Cain and Abel), not just good. Adam and Eve produced the wrong seed because they ate of the wrong fruit and produced after its kind (The Bible says that Cain was of the “evil one” and Abel was righteous). But the bad seed prevailed over the good seed (Cain killed Abel).
Until we are born again of incorruptible seed (the Word of God) we will never be able to produce what is pleasing to God.

God desires us but the enemy desires us too. (Song of Solomon 7:10).
Everyday, we choose what tree we will eat from, which will determine what fruit we produce, which reveals who’s seed we come from. Choose this day whom you will serve.
(Genesis 1:11, 1:31, Genesis 4:1-8 Deuteronomy 22:9)

If the enemy isn’t battling, accusing, trying to devour and destroy you, that is not a good sign. All fighters, armies etc take their opponents very seriously IF they feel as though they are a threat to defeating them.
If the enemy isn’t battling us, we are not a threat to the kingdom of darkness and he’s probably not taking us seriously. (Revelation 12:17)

Church of God vs Church of man (11/30/24)

The difference between a “church service” that is acceptable to God and one that is not, is…

Did the glory/presence of God show up?

Did fire from God consume the people to where they were truly transformed?

A lot of “churches” will try to manufacture their own fire, manufacture their own rituals, but God does not accept it and He doesn’t show up. Fake church will never lead to true change and only leads to death.

Did the glory/presence of God show up?